Almost three years ago, when I was touring universities, I knew I wanted one with a strong Jewish community. I chose the University of Pittsburgh, and I have never had to wonder if I made the right choice.
Pitt is located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, about a 10 minute busride from Squirrel Hill, one of America’s densest Jewish communities outside of New York. Synagogues in the area – Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Orthodox, or non-denominational – welcome students with open arms.
Two Jewish organizations operate on Pitt’s campus: Hillel and Chabad. Chabad, run by Rabbi Shmuli and his family, can be found offering bagels and tefillin wrapping on campus or at the Chabad house on any given day. Hillel sponsors a variety of Jewish groups, including two minyanim – Shir Chadash (Reform) and Kavanah (Traditional Egalitarian) – as well as Challah for Change, which organizes biweekly challah braiding sessions for charity, and LGBTJew+, which provides programming for queer Jews. I’ve made a home for myself at Hillel, at Kavanah and LGBTJew+, where I know I will always feel safe and supported by those communities.
I want everyone to know, before I start talking about Israel, that it is completely possible to be apolitical as a Jew at Pitt, and that you will be able to find community no matter what your views on Israel or the war are. With that said, let’s talk about Israel for a moment.
Pitt has a few student organizations dedicated to anti-Zionism, namely Students for Justice in Palestine at Pitt and the Jewish Bund at Pitt. Last spring, there were two encampments affiliated with SJP, and there have been a small number of protests on campus run by SJP. To my knowledge, no Jewish students were harassed at any of these events. I do not want to minimize the psychological effects of these protests, but I want to emphasize that I do feel safe being visibly Jewish at Pitt, and so do most of the Jewish students I know. At the end of day, I’m glad to be Jewish, and I’m glad to be Jewish at Pitt.
Image Source: https://www.sustainable.pitt.edu/campus-culture/facilities/
